Based on 2009 manga by Yasuhiro Nightow, the creator of the 90’s hit Trigun, Blood Blockade Battlefront (2015) is a supernatural adventure that takes place in what used to be New York City. A few years before the series begins, the city was engulfed in an impenetrable fog that was somehow linked to a fissure […]
Archive for the ‘Anime’ Category
Posted in 
Tags: 
ANIME REVIEW: “Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom”
January 31st, 2017 
Charles Solomon The broadcast series Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (2010) is the first animated adaptation of the popular 2008 video game: Additional TV series, two features, an OAV and a manga followed. The adventure begins in 1864, when Japan was facing an uncertain future: The failure of the Tokugawa shoguns to formulate a satisfactory response […]
Shout! Factory Secures U.S. Rights To Suano Katabuchi’s “In This Corner Of The World”
January 31st, 2017 Jerry Beck Shout! Factory and Animatsu Entertainment (London-based producer, licensor and distributor of anime in the UK and Ireland), have entered into an exclusive film deal to distribute the new animated feature In This Corner Of The World in North America. Based on the award-winning manga by Fumiyo Kouno, the film is written and directed by Sunao […]
FIRST LOOK: Ghibli’s Amazon Series “Ronja the Robber’s Daughter”
January 10th, 2017 Jerry Beck Amazon announced the launch date for Ronja the Robber’s Daughter. This is the new epic new series directed by Goro Miyazaki, animated by Polygon Pictures and co-produced by Studio Ghibli, based on Astrid Lindgren’s classic novel. It will start streaming on January 27th. The English adaptation was produced by David Freedman in London with a […]
ANIME REVIEW: Studio Ghibli’s “Ocean Waves”
January 10th, 2017 Charles Solomon Ocean Waves (Umi ga Kikoeru), sometimes translated as “I Can Hear the Sea” (1993), is Studio Ghibli‘s only TV special. A modest work that’s closer in scope and tone to Whisper of the Heart or From Up on Poppy Hill than to the fragile poetry of The Tale of Princess Kaguya or the grand adventures […]
ANIME TRAILER: “Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side Of Dimensions”
January 4th, 2017 Jerry Beck It’s official! The first animated feature to be released theatrically in 2017, in the US, will be Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side Of Dimensions. Screen Vision Media will give this a two-week release on January 27th. Supposedly a decade in the making, the film features new designs and an all-new story from the original creator of […]
Gkids To Release Studio Ghibli’s 1993 TV Feature “Ocean Waves”
December 19th, 2016 Jerry Beck Distributor GKIDS has announced that it will release Studio Ghibli’s Ocean Waves, which has been unreleased in the U.S. until now. The film will play starting on December 28th at IFC Center in New York, and one night only in Los Angeles at the Egyptian Theatre, in a new 4K restoration. The film will then […]
ANIME FIRST LOOK: Yonebayashi’s “Mary and The Witch’s Flower”
December 15th, 2016 Jerry Beck Dropping today is the teaser trailer for Mary and The Witch’s Flower, the first animated feature from Studio Ponoc, the latest directorial effort from former top Ghibli animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi (director, When Marnie Was There, The Secret World of Arriety). Based on “The Little Broomstick” by Mary Stewart, the screenplay was adapted by Riko Sakaguchi […]
ANIME REVIEW: “Your Name.”
December 2nd, 2016 Charles Solomon Writer-director Makoto Shinkai’s runaway hit Your Name. (Kimi No Na Wa) is the year’s number one box office hit in Japan and the sixth-highest grossing film of all time there. Since it opened in August, it’s earned more than ¥19.4 billion (about US $174 million), more than any animated film not directed by Hayao Miyazaki. […]
ANIME TRAILER: “Napping Princess: The Story Of The Unknown Me”
November 25th, 2016 Jerry Beck Warner Bros. just posted a trailer for a new anime film by director Kenji Kamiyama – (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Eden of the East) – Napping Princess: The Story of the Unknown Me. I.G Port’s anime subsidiary Signal.MD is animating the film as its first anime film project. The film opens March […]
Anime Review: “Big Windup!”
November 15th, 2016 Charles Solomon Based on a manga by Asa Higuchi, the 2007 broadcast series Big Windup! turns the clichés of the anime sports genre upside down. The main character is neither an ace who needs to be taught the importance of teamwork, like Ryoma in Prince of Tennis, nor a newbie who discovers his exceptional talent as he […]
INTERVIEW: Director Keiichi Hara on “Miss Hokusai”
November 10th, 2016 Leslie Combemale The animated film Miss Hokusai has been one of a handful of features that has been garnering awards attention, and justly so. Gorgeously filmed, sophisticated, and meaningful, it’s a movie that should been seen and considered both the critics awards and arthouse audiences. We spoke to director Keiichi Hara about bringing famed and important feminist […]
Anime Review: “Escaflowne”
November 7th, 2016 Charles Solomon Although it didn’t draw much of an audience when it aired on Fox Kids in 2001, The Vision of Escaflowne (Eska-FLOW-nay, 1996) retains a loyal following, probably because this sprawling fantasy infuses sword-and-sorcery and mecha elements into the popular “magical girl” genre. Hitomi Kanzaki (Caitlin Glass) is a sensitive teen-ager who reads Tarot cards for […]
ANIME REVIEWS: Two Based on The Works of Nagaru Tanigawa
September 22nd, 2016 Charles Solomon The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Funimation: $64.98, 5 discs, (4 Blu-ray and one DVD) Despite the series title, Haruhi Suzumiya (Wendee Lee) is hardly melancholy. She’s one of the prettiest girls in her high school, but also the strangest and the loudest. Haruhi dismisses normal people as “boring” (“What kind of fun does a ‘normal’ […]
TRAILER: GKids “Miss Hokusai”
August 30th, 2016 Jerry Beck GKIDS has released its US trailer for Miss Hokusai, the latest feature from Japanese animation powerhouse Production I. G. (Ghost In The Shell, A Letter To Momo). The NY-based distributor will release the film on October 14th in New York and Los Angeles prior to a North American expansion. The film by renowned director Keiichi […]
